AS the saying goes ‘let he without sin cast the first stone’ so this may come as a bit hypocritical coming from me given that I missed my own club’s championship defeat last week serving a one-match suspension arising from a straight red card in a championship game last year. The GAA rules dictate that I must miss the next game in that competition so in this current knock-out phase, my red card in August 2017 means I have to wait a two full calendar years before I can play championship football again given my club were defeated.

In general my discipline record is something I can stand over. I will be 34 next month and will have played a hell of a lot of football and in my career. I have had two red cards (both championship football unfortunately) and one black card in a league game. I’m by no means portraying a whiter than white image but I do understand the need to try and keep a level of discipline and show a level of both restraint and leadership on the field as it’s no fun sitting on the sidelines watching. Over the last few days the discipline of GAA members on the playing field has come into sharp focus due to a number of incidents arising last weekend.

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